Countries With The Fastest Internet Speeds

Good ole Al Gore may have invented the internet, but the country where he served as Vice President under Bill Clinton for 8 years is far from the fastest.  According to IT consulting firm Akamai, these are the best countries to plug in if you feel the need for speed.

No. 10: Finland

Last year's megabytes per second (Mbps) speed averaged 7.1 Mbps, up 20% from a year ago. In the first quarter of 2013, average speeds for broadband internet connections were 7.7 Mbps, according to Akamai.

No. 9: Sweden

Those Nordics got the best of everything, don't they? Except weather. The Swedes had speeds averaging 7.3 Mbps, up 29% from a year ago. In the first quarter of 2013, average connection speeds were 8.3 Mbps.

No. 8: USA

The U.S. had average connection speeds of 7.4 Mbps, 28% faster than in 2011.  First quarter 2013 got even faster for the netizens of the U.S., with speeds averaging 8.6 Mbps, according to Akamai.

No. 7: The Czechs 

Average connection speeds in the Czech Republic back in 2012 were 8.1 Mbps, up 21% from a year ago. In the first quarter, broadband connection speeds were an even better 9.6 Mbps.

No. 6: The Netherlands

Also faster than us, The Netherlands had an average broadband connection speed of 8.6 Mbps, up 3.3% from 2011. In the first quarter, broadband connection speeds averaged 9.6 Mbps.

No. 5: Switzerland

In 2012, average broadband connection speeds were 8.7 Mbps, up 20% from 2011. By the first three months of 2013, they rose to 10.06 Mbps.

No. 4: Latvia 

Latvia internet speeds are faster than they are in the U.S., with 2012 averages of 8.9 Mbps, up 20% from a year ago. In the first quarter of 2013, internet speeds in Latvia hit 9.8 Mbps.

No. 3: Hong Kong

Hong Kong benefits in part from its old colonial days under the British flag, with top rate infrastructure and money from the world over. Internet speeds averaged 9.3 Mbps last year, up 5.4% from a year ago. This compares to average mainland China internet speeds of just 1.7 Mbps, according to Akamai.

No. 2: Japan

Japan's average internet speed was 10.8 Mbps in 2012, up from 19% a year ago. By the first quarter of 2013, average connection speeds rose to 11.6 Mbps. 

The Fastest Web On Earth

South Korea's Samsung beats Apple, and South Korea's internet beats the United States. When it comes to broadband connection speeds, the Koreans averaged 14 Mbps last year, but that was a surprising 13% drop from a year ago. By the first quarter of 2013, internet speeds were a bit higher at 14.2 Mbps. That's akin to light speed compared to these regional slowpokes..